Lucky Stiffs … And Other Enduring Songs That Missed the Year-End Top 100

When we’ve looked at the “Lost Factor” that removes big hit records from radio gold libraries and the public’s consciousness over the years, we’ve always used the Billboard Top 100 for a given chart year in our calculations. There are always a handful of songs, most of them Classic Rock, that are now played disproportionately to their year-end standing at the time. But what about those songs that didn’t even make the year-end Top 100 to begin with?

These songs are the opposite of “lost”: they’re the 50 most-played songs, according to BDSRadio and based on combined airplay for all formats in a seven-day period in early September, that didn’t seem big enough at the time to make the year-end Top 100.

Some are fourth-quarter hits whose chart points were split over two chart years, including a few that are mind-boggling now: Steve Miller Band, “Rock’n Me” (a No. 1 hit); Boston, “More Than a Feeling”; Prince, “Purple Rain”; Heart, “Magic Man”; Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Sweet Home Alabama”; Rolling Stones, “Start Me Up.”

Some were top 20 hits that are remembered as bigger now: Rod Stewart, “Forever Young”; Tom Petty, “I Won’t Back Down”; Blue Oyster Cult, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”

Many are songs that took years to become library staples, usually doing so after the artist involved turned from a now-and-then CHR presence to a consistent hitmaker: Billy Joel, “Piano Man”; Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell”; Aerosmith, “Sweet Emotion”; even Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” (with its extra boost from Miami Vice) on its way to “biggest song in the world” status for a while. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” made the year-end top 100, but as the poster child for a song that overperforms, it should be no surprise that the band is multiply represented here.

A few songs were victims of the early ‘80s doldrums when CHR radio became AC-flavored and even “In The Air Tonight” was too hard for some radio stations. AC/DC, then considered the hardest band on the radio, is well-represented here with both those songs that CHR should have played more (“You Shook Me All Night Long”) and those that weren’t even worked to pop radio (“T.N.T.,” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”).

In fact, there are a number of Album Rock hits that never became anything else and still live mostly on Classic Rock radio. But in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, when AOR had cultural dominance in many markets, and CHR was foundering, some of those songs (Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”) seemed far more important than the pure pop hits anyway. Plus, AOR influenced CHR gold libraries as well, helping burn in some songs over the years.

It’s also worth noting that some labels didn’t seem particularly concerned where an AOR crossover peaked in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. For those acts, the album chart was the bigger trophy. Having a hit single of any sort was just a vehicle to sell albums, so what did it matter if “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” was No. 7 (which is how I misremember it), or No. 12 (where it really peaked)? Plus selling albums, rather than singles, meant lower singles chart peaks and fewer year-end chart points.

Besides, in late 1976, when “Reaper” was on the charts, No. 12 still felt like a real hit, especially if you had multi-format support from rock or R&B radio. Today, current hits hardly feel ratified by radio until at least the top nine. That could reflect my teenage chart geek’s more intense chart gaze at the time, but it certainly feels like there are fewer real hits now, and the combined ratings impact of current-based formats is far less than it was in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

And then there are a few songs that I’ve labeled “Lucky Stiffs.” Those are the songs that truly missed at pop radio on the first round, then became hits over time — the Romantics, “What I Like About You”; Modern English, “I Melt With You.” Many of those became radio staples in the late ‘80s during the same run of “bring-backs” that sent UB40’s “Red Red Wine” to No. 1. Some larger songs, like Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” also picked up steam around this time.

One of the common hallmarks of songs with high “Lost Factor” scores is that they weren’t quite as big as radio people remember them — they were songs that peaked around No. 9 or lower and never got to power rotation. They never got a true chance to be remembered as hits by most listeners. Yet, a lot of the songs here also peaked between No. 9 and No. 15. It might seem contradictory to say that they endure because listeners never got sick of them in the first place, but a song such as “In Your Eyes” got library play and a concerted effort on its behalf over the years that never went to, say, “Driver’s Seat.”

These songs span the late ‘60s through 1989. While “Lost Factor” covers the years 1960-94 so far, the ‘90s are dominated by grunge and other Alternative hits that were often never worked to pop, or even released as singles by labels that wanted to sell albums and preserve artist cred. Plus, even if Top 40 had been asked to play “Spoonman” by Soundgarden, CHR in many markets was soft or nonexistent.

Here’s our list of the top 50 songs that never made the year-end top 100:

And here are some others that bear mention:

54 – Van Morrison, “Brown Eyed Girl”;

58 – Wings, “Maybe I’m Amazed (Live)”;

59 – Fleetwood Mac, “Landslide”: Not a single in 1975-76 and not a year-end finisher as a 1997 live single;

63 – Queen, “Fat Bottomed Girls”: Considered a relative disappointment after “We Are the Champions”;

64 – Aerosmith, “Come Together”: An American Idol contestant once sang it for Steven Tyler and neither mentioned that it was anything other than a Beatles song. But for years, this has been a library go-to for Active Rock and Classic Rock stations that didn’t want to go back to 1969.

71 – Elton John, “Tiny Dancer”: A hit for some Top 40s, too long for others, and he was only almost-famous at the time.

80 – Billy Idol, “Dancing With Myself”: Probably the luckiest stiff when it comes to “Lucky Stiffs.” This became a library staple. “Mony Mony” went No. 1 as a reissue. “Rebel Yell” and “White Wedding” are hits now disproportionate to their chart status of the time.

82 – Bob Seger & Silver Bullet Band, “Turn the Page (Live)”: “Live Bullet” made him a rock radio star, and not just in Detroit, six months before “Night Moves.” In the Midwest, this would test for some Classic Hits and even AC stations. Helped by Metallica, as well.

93 – Police, “Message in a Bottle”: After “Roxanne,” it felt like they became exotic again, at least for another year until their eventual multi-format breakthrough.

96 – R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: This wasn’t a pop hit at the time, but even “The One I Love” didn’t make the year-end chart. “Losing My Religion” made the whole catalog seem bigger, but it was also their chart apex.

106 – Rick James, “Super Freak”: The most aggravating victim (among many) of the “disco” backlash, which stalled far more R&B and funk hits. So undeniable that it became a retroactive hit even though James’ own star as a performer was never as big again.